i know

a place we'll be together

and stay this young forever

they won't know who we are

"Shh," she says to him, placing one finger on her lips and five more around his wrist, yanking him down a deserted hallway on some wing that everyone else has forgotten about. "We're incognito."

It's just after they've both fought with James, for entirely different reasons that are undeniably intertwined. Nobody else is speaking to either of them, but they're all right with just each other. They are racing down corridors, half-holding hands, dashing away to free themselves from the glares and cold remarks that their treason has earned them. They are running away, to a secret nowhere world where nothing can reach them.

They're incognito.

He's heard it before, in passing. There is no question of meaning, even of context, this time. They're leaving the others behind, going into hiding. Together.

Never before has cowardice been so appealing.

She leads the way, and she's dancing in front of him, and he can't help but wonder how many times she's done this before. How many times has she hidden herself away, running from everything and everyone in the world?

Her hair is longer than it's ever been before, streaming behind her as she runs. If he wanted to, he could reach out and grab it, twist the sweet scarlet satin in his fingers. Never let go.

As it is, he can catch her scent.

She doesn't smell like lilies, as many-a-cliche would imply. She doesn't smell like flowers at all, her scent is more fruit than floral, laced with apple and peach; strawberry and tangerine.

She stops at a door towards the end of the hallway, her back to the door, which seems to have appeared out of nowhere. She looks up at him and fixes her eyes on his. Her face is absolutely solemn.

"This is a secret, you hear?" she says. She moves her fingers so that they lace through his, tiny and soft. He glances down at their intertwined hand and smiles. Her fingernails are painted blue. "An absolute secret. Tell one of your stupid friends and I will kill you with my bare hands."

He is still staring at her bare hands, and it occurs to him that to see blood on those hands might break him forever. He glances up at her and she isn't smiling.

"I won't tell."

"Promise?"

"Cross my heart and hope-"

"Don't," she tells him. "Never say that."

"I promise," he says, and he does. He'll promise anything she wants him to.

She grins, clutching only one of his hands now. "Good."

She's twisting the golden doorknob and he decides that it doesn't matter if it leads to a barren desert or a gas chamber or the end of the world. She's holding his hand and they're hiding and he doesn't care if the whole world finds him, because he's feeling brave. And maybe hiding out isn't so cowardly after all. Maybe it isn't even a choice, and perhaps it isn't even what they're doing.

Maybe it's who they are.

Incognito.

a/n: I had kind of forgotten about this, but a review and my favorite Plain White T's song(Take You There, from which I stole the lyrics on top) brought me sudden inspiration. So thank you shieldmaiden-wot and Tom Higginson.

also: review.